Italian GP stewards explain why Ferrari drivers weren’t penalized despite breaching special Qualifying rule

Scuderia Ferrari had a great Qualifying result at the Italian GP. Carlos Sainz secured his first pole position in front of the Tifosi while Charles Leclerc qualified third on the grid. However, this result was in jeopardy as the two drivers had failed to meet the required lap time as per a special rule for Monza. Now, the stewards have explained why they didn’t enforce a penalty on both drivers.

For the Italian GP, a special rule was put in place. Drivers were given a maximum time of 1 minute and 41 seconds to cross the second safety car to the first on a lap. This rule was brought in to avoid severe traffic in the ending stages of the session as drivers try to get a gap for their flying laps.

The rule stated, “For the safe and orderly conduct of the event, other than in exceptional circumstances accepted as such by the stewards, any driver that exceeds 1m41s from the second safety car line to the first safety car line on any lap during and after the end of the qualifying session, including in-laps and out-laps, may be deemed to be going unnecessarily slowly.”

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were found to have breached this rule in Q1. The two drivers were investigated for crossing the 1min 41secs mark. However, race control gave a no further action ruling. The stewards deemed that the Ferrari drivers had maintained the necessary speeds to remain within the time limit. The ruling stated, “Both drivers stayed at or above speeds necessary to stay below 1m41s around the vast majority of the circuit and especially on the straights.”

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Carlos Sainz’s pole position intact after stewards’ decision

Race control mentioned that Sainz and Leclerc did not impede other drivers despite failing to meet the mark. The Ferrari drivers took the necessary and appropriate action to stay clear of other cars on the track. Moreover, the stewards mentioned that both drivers allowed four cars to pass through. The two gave a clear track to their competitors.

As such, race control deemed that Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc did not cause trouble during the session. This was cited as the reason for not penalizing the two cars. The concluding statement said, “The stewards therefore determine that they [Sainz and Leclerc] did not drive ‘unnecessarily slowly’ and that evidently the reason they were both slightly above the maximum time was due to their appropriate action.”

This implies that Ferrari’s Qualifying result stays put. Carlos Sainz will start from pole position in front of the Tifosi. Certainly, the hundreds of thousands of Ferrari fans at Monza would be relieved to hear this news. However, there is still a long way to go for the Sainz and Prancing Horse to convert this result into a race victory on Sunday.

In case you missed it:

• Max Verstappen responds to Charles Leclerc’s claims that he can be beaten
• Christian Horner defends Max Verstappen after Lewis Hamilton’s no-formidable teammate comment

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